What To Do with the Violence Within

Human passion has the potential to be used for enhancement of life, but if not careful it can be used for destruction. James Forbes uses the story of Cain and Abel to demonstrate how Christians today can distort God’s word to encourage violence, and how to turn to God for wisdom and healing.

James Alexander Forbes, Jr., is distinguished Senior Minister Emeritus of The Riverside Church. Forbes, who was installed as the fifth Senior Minister of Riverside on June 1, 1989, is the first African-American to serve as Senior Minister of this multicultural congregation. He is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches and the Original United Holy Church of America. This Pastor, Educator, Administrator, Community Activist and Interfaith Leader was designated as one of America’s greatest Black preachers by Ebony magazine in 1984 and 1993. He won the Alumni Charter Day Award of Howard University for Distinguished Post Graduate Achievement In Ministry. In 1995 he emerged in the Baylor University Survey as one of twelve remarkable and most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. Dr. Forbes has earned three degrees and has been awarded 13 honorary degrees. He earned a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, NY, in 1975; a Master of Divinity Degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, NY in 1962; and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1957.